Four candidates vie for District 10 City Council seat

By Kymberli W. Brady

Staff Writer

While most are busy preparing for the upcoming holiday season, others have their sights on the approaching March, 2004 municipal election as they announce their intent to pursue the District 10 City Council seat that will be left vacant when Vice Mayor Pat Dando leaves office on Dec. 31, 2004. Having reached her term limits, Dando will be free to pursue other opportunities, and rumor has it that she is being courted by several high-ranking political figures to pursue the state assembly.

In San Jose, policy leadership of elected officials is grouped into a council/manager type of government in the form of a city council, a legislative body empowered by the city charter to represent the community and develop city policy. With the mayor at the helm, the group consists of 10 councilmembers, each elected by their respective districts. The full-time job brings with it a $75,000 annual salary for a term of four years.

Three individuals have filed notices of intent to run for City Council, including local businessman Rich De La Rosa, Evergreen College District Trustee Nancy Pyle, and Alexander Vassar, a political science major at San Jose State University. On Monday, a fourth candidate surfaced–Valley Christian Schools Chancellor Claude Fletcher.

Born and raised in San Jose, Rich De La Rosa owns RDL Insurance Services, where he has served as an independent contractor for Allstate Insurance since 1976 and runs De La Rosa Latin/American Imports, a family-owned business in the Tropicana Shopping Center. His role as spokesman for the center's 60-70 merchants during a two-and-a-half- year battle to save it from eminent domain ignited his desire to run for public office. “I'm not doing this to become a professional politician,” he says. “I'm dong it to see our city move forward in this malaise so we can continue to make good choices in the future. Having been born in this town, I've watched it grow from a prune orchard to the Silicon Valley–the center of the world and I'd like to contribute more to that. I can't think of a better place to raise a family.”

De La Rosa lives with his wife Misty in the foothills of Blossom Valley. They have four grown children: Rich Jr., Amber, Alicia, and Nikki, as well as 3-year-old Danny, whom they are currently in the process of adopting.

De La Rosa's endorsements include those from Vice Mayor Pat Dando, Supervisor Don Gage, Compact Chamber of Commerce, and former Councilmember John DiQuisto.

Nancy Pyle was raised on a dairy farm in upstate New York before relocating to San Jose. She taught grades K-8 and served as the district director of legislative and community affairs for San Jose Unified School District. Pyle has lived in District 10 for nearly 25 years, where she also sold real estate and ran a small business with her husband, Roger. Together, they have five children.

Pyle is on the board of directors of the Almaden Valley Community Association and YWCA and was hailed as the driving force behind the successful passage of Measure I in 1998, which set the stage for the rebuilding of San Jose City College. She is also credited with aiding in successful negotiations that led to the new Cesar Chavez Library, which opened last September.

Pyle has served as trustee for the San Jose/Evergreen Community College for the past seven years, Her volunteer work has included chairing the Small Business Commission, vice president of the Notre Dame High School Board and member of the Leland High School Foundation.

This is Pyle's third run for City Council, and she has received several endorsements, including Congressman Mike Honda, State Senator Byron Sher, Councilmember Forrest Williams, SJUSD Superintendent of Schools Dr. Linda Murray, and SJUSD Trustee Jorge Gonzales.

One of a slew of college students vying for a role in politics by pursuing public office, Alexander Vassar is a political science major in his senior year at San Jose State. He has lived in Blossom Valley with his wife, Jane for two years. This is Vassar's first run for the City Council seat. “I really want to make sure our area has a good representative who is really interested and has a strong desire to represent folk who are working in this area,” he says. “I'm young, so I'll be working here. I have long-term interests in making this a really good community to live in for the next 30 years.”

After a loss to Tom McEnery during the mayoral election 17 years ago, Claude Fletcher officially announced to the Almaden Times on Monday that he will pursue his political comeback with a return bid for the City Council seat that he occupied from 1980 to 1984.

Fletcher is the chancellor of Valley Christian Schools. He owns a business management-consulting firm and serves as the bankruptcy trustee for the Northern California District U.S. Trustee's Office.

In addition to holding board positions with the San Jose Redevelopment Agency, the Association of Bay Area Governments, the South Valley YMCA, San Jose Police Activities League, and the Santa Clara Valley Water District, Fletcher has also been active with the California Attorney General Citizen Advisory Council. He and his wife Trish have lived in Almaden for the past 30 years. The have three adult children and five grandchildren.

The nomination period will begin on Monday and continue until Friday, Dec. 5 at noon, during which all candidates must submit a minimum of 50 signatures with their nomination papers to qualify for a spot on the March ballot. Unless one candidate gets at least 50 percent of the vote, the top two will face each other in a run-off election on Nov. 2, where the winner will hold the office from Jan. 1, 2005 through Dec. 31, 2008.

More information on the candidates can be found on the following Web sites: Nancy Pyle; www.nancypyle.net , Alexander Vassar; www.alexvassar.com . De La Rosa's site, www.voterichdelarosa.com will be live in two weeks, and Fletcher is currently developing his Web site.